Fighter
This illustration of a dragonborn by William O'Connor introduced the fighter in the Player's Handbook. Fighter is a martial defender class in 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons. Class Traits *'Role:' Defender. You are very tough and have the exceptional ability to contain enemies in melee. *'Power Source:' Martial. You have become a master of combat through endless hours of practice, determination, and your own sheer physical toughness. *'Key Abilities:' Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, Constitution *'Armor Proficiencies:' Cloth, leather, hide, chainmail, scale; light shield, heavy shield *'Weapon Proficiencies:' Simple melee, military melee, simple ranged, military ranged *'Bonus to Defense :' +2 Fortitude *'Hit Points at 1st Level:' 15 + Constitution score **'Hit Points per Level Gained:' 6 **'Healing Surges per Day:' 9 + Constitution modifier *'Build Options:' Great weapon fighter , Guardian fighter , Battlerager fighter , Tempest fighter , Brawler fighter . Fighter overview Characteristics: You are extremely tough, with a great Armor Class and lots of hit points. You have extraordinary resilience against physical attack. You don’t have much ability to fight at range, but you excel in melee combat. You have special abilities that make it dangerous for enemies to ignore you, so you can contain foes and keep them away from your friends. Religion: Fighters naturally favor deities of war, combat, adventure, or valor. Bahamut and Kord are popular, as is Avandra. Many unaligned or evil fighters pay homage to Bane, the god of war. Races: Fighters come from all races. Dragonborn, dwarves, and humans are the most common fighters. Class Features *Combat Challenge *Combat Superiority or Combat Agility *Fighter Weapon Talent, Battlerager Vigor, Tempest Technique, or Brawler Style Skills From the class skills list below, choose three trained skills at 1st level. *Athletics (Str) *Endurance (Con) *Heal (Wis) *Intimidate (Cha) *Streetwise (Cha) Combat Challenge In combat, it's dangerous to ignore a fighter. Every time you attack an enemy, whether the attack hits or misses, you can choose to mark that target. *The mark lasts until the end of your next turn. *While a target is marked, it takes a −2 penalty to attack rolls for any attack that doesn’t include you as a target. *A creature can be subject to only one mark at a time. A new mark supersedes a mark that was already in place. *When a marked enemy is adjacent to the fighter who marked it, and shifts or makes an attack that does not include the fighter who marked it as a target, the fighter who marked it can make a melee basic attack against it as an immediate interrupt action. *'Note:' The basic attack granted by Combat Challenge is not an opportunity attack. The PHB contains some errors (such as the Potent Challenge feat's summary wording on page 197) which mix the two up and create confusion, but WOTC has confirmed that Combat Challenge is not an opportunity attack. Combat Superiority Fighters are especially vicious with opportunity attacks. *You gain a bonus to opportunity attacks equal to your Wisdom modifier. *An enemy struck by your opportunity attack stops moving, if a move provoked the attack. If it still has actions remaining, it can use them to resume moving. Combat Agility Fighters who select the Combat Agility class feature instead of Combat Superiority gain combat agility as an at-will power which can be used in place of an opportunity attack. Fighter Weapon Talent A fighter who selects the Fighter Weapon Talent class feature chooses either one-handed or two-handed weapons. The fighter gains a +1 bonus to weapon attack rolls with the chosen type of weapon. A human fighter with this class feature can take the Versatile Talent feat to gain this class feature's benefits for both one-handed and two-handed weapons. Battlerager Vigor A fighter who selects the Battlerager Vigor class feature instead of Fighter Weapon Talent gains temporary hit points after each time an enemy hits the fighter with a melee or close attack. When the fighter gains temporary hit points by hitting with an invigorating attack, those temporary hit points stack with any existing temporary hit points. While wearing light armor or chainmail and having any temporary hit points, the fighter gains a +1 bonus to damage rolls with melee or close weapon attacks, or a +2 bonus to damage rolls if using an axe, hammer, mace, or pick. Tempest Technique A fighter who selects the Tempest Technique class feature instead of Fighter Weapon Talent gains Two-Weapon Defense as a bonus feat, regardless of prerequisites. While wielding two melee weapons, the fighter gains a +1 bonus to attack rolls with off-hand property weapons. While wearing light armor or chainmail and wielding two weapons, the fighter gains a +1 bonus to damage rolls with melee or close weapon attacks, or a +2 bonus to damage rolls if using an off-hand property weapon. Brawler Style A fighter who selects the Brawler Style class feature instead of Fighter Weapon Talent gains a +2 proficiency bonus to unarmed attacks, unless attacking with a spiked gauntlet. The fighter receives a +2 bonus to grab attacks, and a +2 bonus to attacks to move a grabbed creature. While wielding a weapon in the primary hand and having the off hand free, the fighter gains a +1 bonus to AC and a +2 bonus to Fortitude. Fighter powers Fighter powers, having a martial power source, are also called exploits. Key Two-handed melee weapon requirement or rider Free off hand or grab requirement (brawling style) Invigorating keyword or axe/hammer/mace rider (battlerager style) Flail rider Shield requirement Two melee weapons requirement (tempest style) Constitution based effect Dexterity based effect Wisdom based effect Fighter feats These feats have the fighter class, or hybrid/multiclass fighter, as a prerequisite. Additional prerequisites are noted. For example, characters who multiclass into fighter do not necessarily gain the Combat Challenge feature, so may not qualify for feats requiring that feature. Heroic Tier Feats *Deep Gash (Con 15) *Distracting Shield (Wis 15, Combat Challenge) *Polearm Momentum (Dex 15, Wis 15) *Potent Challenge (Con 15, Combat Challenge) *Savage Axe *Shield Push (Combat Challenge) *Versatile Talent (human, Fighter Weapon Talent) Fighter paragon paths Refer to the Fighter section in the Paragon Path page or the Fighter Paragon Paths category. Multiclass fighters Characters who did not start as fighters and who do not already have a multiclass feat for a class other than fighter may multiclass as fighters by taking one of the following entry feats. In addition, each fighter entry feat grants all of the following benefits: * The character counts as a fighter, in addition to his or her original class, for the purpose of meeting prerequisites for feats, paragon paths, etc. * The character gains training in one skill of his or her choice from the fighter class skill list: Athletics, Endurance, Heal, Intimidate, or Streetwise. * The character may take Novice Power, Acolyte Power, and Adept Power feats to exchange powers for fighter powers. * If the character takes a multiclass encounter, a multiclass utility, and a multiclass daily feat (such as Novice, Acolyte, and Adept Power), the character can paragon multiclass in fighter instead of taking a paragon path. Paragon multiclassed fighters select additional fighter powers instead of paragon path powers, and may take the Agile Brawler feat to gain the Combat Agility fighter class feature. Hybrid fighters A character may be created as a hybrid of fighter and another class other than fighter. The hybrid fighter bonus to defense is +1 Fortitude. The hybrid's fighter class feature is Combat Challenge (hybrid), which is the same as Combat Challenge except that it can only mark enemies attacked using fighter class powers or fighter paragon path powers. When a hybrid fighter gains the Hybrid Talent feat, he or she chooses one hybrid talent option from either of his or her hybrid classes. The fighter hybrid talent options are: ; Combat Specialty : The hybrid fighter gains one of the following fighter class features: Combat Agility, or Combat Superiority. ; Fighter Armor Proficiency : The hybrid fighter gains armor proficiency with leather armor, hide armor, chainmail, scale armor, light shields, and heavy shields. ; Fighter Combat Talent : The hybrid fighter gains one of the following fighter class features: Battlerager Vigor (hybrid), Brawler Style, Fighter Weapon Talent, or Tempest Technique. Battlerager Vigor (hybrid) is the same as Battlerager Vigor except that the bonus to damage rolls isn't gained if the hybrid fighter is wearing light armor or chainmail. Subclasses A fighter can use the rules for the original fighter class (weaponmaster) or one of the other subclasses. Weaponmaster Weaponmaster is the subclass of fighter introduced in the Player's Handbook. Weaponmasters are pure defenders. The "Class Compendium: Weaponmaster" article in Dragon #398 redefined the original fighter class as the weaponmaster subclass, and in the process, made a few changes. Consequently, Wizards of the Coast made the article available to download without a subscription, as an update to the original fighter class. Knight Knight is a subclass of fighter introduced in Heroes of the Fallen Lands. Knights are pure defenders. Slayer Slayer is a subclass of fighter introduced in Heroes of the Fallen Lands. Slayers are both strikers and defenders. Development Fighter is one of the oldest classes in Dungeons & Dragons. Category:Fighter Category:Classes Category:Defenders Category:Martial